Influence of host plant (Terminalia arjuna)defences on the evolution of feeding behaviourin the tasar silkworm

Both under indoor and outdoor rearing conditions, early instars of Antheraea mylitta showed differential preference for eating towards developmentally different leaves of host plant, Terminalia arjuna. Semi-mature leaves were preferred by first, second and third instar of A. mylitta. Nutritional-value study of leaves of different age groups with respect to soluble protein and electrophoretic profile showed that young leaves are nutritionally rich compared to semi-mature and mature leaves. However, growth response and survival of larvae were better on semi-mature leaves compared to young and mature leaves. When analysed, semi-mature leaves showed protease inhibitor activity intermediate between young and mature leaves. This observation suggests optimal defence theory, where young and semi-mature leaves having high fitness and high probability of attack tend to have higher concentration of defence metabolites. Differential inhibition of midgut and bovine proteases by host plant protease inhibitor indicates that the tasar silkworm might have detoxified or evolved proteases that are insensitive to the leaf protease inhibitor of the host plant. Thus the differential feeding behaviour of larvae of tasar silkworm is an adaptation for coexistence of the insect and its host plant

Management outcomes in pubic diastasis: our experience with 19 patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pubic diastasis, a result of high energy antero-posterior compression (APC) injury, has been managed based on the Young and Burguess classification system. The mode of fixation in APC II injury has, however, been a subject of controversy and some authors have proposed a need to address the issue of partial breach of the posterior pelvic ring elements in these injuries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study included a total of 19 patients with pubic diastasis managed by us from May 2006 to December 2007. There was a single patient with type I APC injury who treated conservatively. Type II APC injuries (13 patients) were treated surgically with symphyseal plating using single anterior/superior plates or double perpendicularly placed plates. Type III injuries (5 patients) in addition underwent posterior fixation using plates or percutaneous sacro-iliac screws. The outcome was assessed clinically (Majeed score) and radiologically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean follow-up was for 2.9 years (6 months to 4.5 years). Among the 13 patients with APC II injuries, the clinical scores were excellent in one (7.6%), good in 6 (46.15%), fair in 4 (30.76%) and poor in 2 (15.38%). Radiological scores were excellent in 2 (15.38%), good in 8 (61.53%), fair in 2 (15.38%) and poor in one patient (7.6%). Among the 5 patients with APC III injuries, there were 2 patients each with good (50%) and fair (50%) clinical scores while one patient was lost on long term follow up. The radiological outcomes were also similar in these. Complications included implant failure in 3 patients, postoperative infection in 2 patients, deep venous thrombosis in one patient and bladder herniation in one of the patients with implant failure.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is no observed dissimilarity in outcomes between isolated anterior and combined symphyseal (perpendicular) plating techniques in APC II injuries. Single anterior symphyseal plating along with posterior stabilisation provides a stable fixation in type III APC injuries. Limited dissection ensuring adequate intactness of rectus sheath is important to avoid long term post-operative complications.</p

Effect of timing of cord clamping on iron stores of infants born to anemic mothers

Objective: To study the effect of timing of cord clamping on the iron stores of infants born to anemic (hemoglobin [Hb] 7-10 g/dl)mothers, and if late clamping leads to polycythemia. Design: Randomized comparative trial. Setting: Tertiary care hospital in ametropolitan city. Participants: Term, healthy, and vaginally delivered neonates without any congenital malformations or birth asphyxia,born to booked anemic (Hb 7-10 g/dl) mothers having no medical or pregnancy-related complications were included in the study.Interventions: The pregnant mothers were randomized into three groups, and their umbilical cords were clamped at 1, 2, and 3 min.Neonatal hematocrit was estimated by the capillary method at 24 h of life, and infant’s (Hb) and ferritin were obtained at 3 monthsof life. Main Outcome Measures: Hematocrit at 24 h of life and serum iron and ferritin levels at 3 months of age. Results: Theoutcome variables significantly associated (p&lt;0.05) with hematocrit were cord clamping time, maternal Hb and cord Hb, and ferritin.That associated with infant’s Hb were cord clamping time and cord Hb and ferritin. Whereas, only cord clamp time was significantlyassociated with infant’s ferritin. None of the neonates had polycythemia, and Hb and ferritin were found to be the highest in those whosecord was clamped at 3 min. Conclusion: In resource-constrained countries, where iron deficiency anemia is a major public healthproblem, delaying the umbilical cord clamping by up to 3 min will reduce the incidence of infantile anemia. It will serve as an additionalcost-effective intervention in anemia control program without any adverse effect of polycythemia

Esculetin Downregulates the Expression of AML1-ETO and C-Kit in Kasumi-1 Cell Line by Decreasing Half-Life of mRNA

One of the most frequent genetic aberrations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is chromosomal translocation between AML1/RUNX1 on chromosome 21 and ETO gene on chromosome 8 resulting in the expression of chimeric oncogene AML1-ETO. Although patients with t(8;21) translocation have good prognosis, 5-year survival is observed only in 50% of the cases. AML1-ETO translocation is usually accompanied by overexpression of mutant C-Kit, a tyrosine kinase, which contributes to uncontrolled proliferation of premature blood cells leading to relapse and poor prognosis. We illustrate the potential use of esculetin on leukemic cell line, Kasumi-1, bearing t(8;21) translocation and mutated C-Kit gene. Esculetin decreases the expression of AML1-ETO at both protein and transcript level within 24 hours of treatment. Half-life of AML1-ETO mRNA was reduced from 7 hours to 1.5 hours. Similarly half-life of C-Kit mRNA was reduced to 2 hours from 5 hours in esculetin treated cells. Esculetin also perturbed the expression of ectopically expressed AML1-ETO in U937 cells. The decreased expression of AML1-ETO chimeric gene was associated with increased expression of LAT1 and RUNX3 genes, targets of AML1. We envisage that discovery of a drug candidate which could target both these mutated genes would be a considerable breakthrough for future application

A persistent neutrophil-associated immune signature characterizes post-COVID-19 pulmonary sequelae

Interstitial lung disease and associated fibrosis occur in a proportion of individuals who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection through unknown mechanisms. We studied individuals with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after recovery from acute illness. Individuals with evidence of interstitial lung changes at 3 to 6 months after recovery had an up-regulated neutrophil-associated immune signature including increased chemokines, proteases, and markers of neutrophil extracellular traps that were detectable in the blood. Similar pathways were enriched in the upper airway with a concomitant increase in antiviral type I interferon signaling. Interaction analysis of the peripheral phosphoproteome identified enriched kinases critical for neutrophil inflammatory pathways. Evaluation of these individuals at 12 months after recovery indicated that a subset of the individuals had not yet achieved full normalization of radiological and functional changes. These data provide insight into mechanisms driving development of pulmonary sequelae during and after COVID-19 and provide a rational basis for development of targeted approaches to prevent long-term complications

Alignment of the ALICE Inner Tracking System with cosmic-ray tracks

37 pages, 15 figures, revised version, accepted by JINSTALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 micron in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurements, and the reconstructed tracks from cosmic rays and from proton-proton collisions. The main track-based alignment method uses the Millepede global approach. An iterative local method was developed and used as well. We present the results obtained for the ITS alignment using about 10^5 charged tracks from cosmic rays that have been collected during summer 2008, with the ALICE solenoidal magnet switched off.Peer reviewe

Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19-free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS: Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19-free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19-free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score-matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19-free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Elective cancer surgery in COVID-19-free surgical pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An international, multicenter, comparative cohort study

PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19–free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19–free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19–free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score–matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19–free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks

Transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at s=900\sqrt{s} = 900 GeV with ALICE at the LHC

The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum distribution is measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 900$ GeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region $(|\eta|<0.8)$ over the transverse momentum range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10$ GeV/$c$. The correlation between transverse momentum and particle multiplicity is also studied. Results are presented for inelastic (INEL) and non-single-diffractive (NSD) events. The average transverse momentum for $|\eta|<0.8$ is $\left<p_{\rm T}\right>_{\rm INEL}=0.483\pm0.001$ (stat.) $\pm0.007$ (syst.) GeV/$c$ and \left_{\rm NSD}=0.489\pm0.001 (stat.) $\pm0.007$ (syst.) GeV/$c$, respectively. The data exhibit a slightly larger $\left<p_{\rm T}\right>$ than measurements in wider pseudorapidity intervals. The results are compared to simulations with the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/390